NSW strata voting: ordinary, special and unanimous resolutions explained

New South Wales strata schemes are governed by the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA) and the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016. In NSW the legal entity of all lot owners is called the owners corporation (the equivalent of Queensland's body corporate), and its elected sub-group is the strata committee. The Act sets which decisions need which kind of vote — and, just as in Queensland, putting a motion to the wrong resolution type is one of the most common reasons a decision is later overturned at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Where decisions are made

There are two decision-making levels:

• The strata committee handles day-to-day administration between general meetings. It decides by a majority of the votes of members present at a committee meeting, and its decisions are treated as decisions of the owners corporation. Some matters are off-limits: anything the Act requires to be decided by the owners corporation at a general meeting — setting levies, changing by-laws, and any decision needing a special or unanimous resolution — can never be made by the committee.
• General meetings (the AGM, or another general meeting called during the year) decide everything else. Every owner is entitled to attend and, if financial, to vote.

Resolution types at a general meeting

NSW uses three resolution types, and the meeting notice must make clear which one applies to each motion.

Ordinary resolution

The default. A motion passes if a majority of the votes cast are in favour. Voting is normally by a show of hands — one vote per person entitled to vote — unless a poll is demanded, in which case votes are counted by each lot's unit entitlement instead.

Special resolution

Required for weightier decisions — making, amending, or repealing by-laws, adding to or altering common property, and other matters the Act nominates. The NSW test is counted by unit entitlement, on the votes actually cast: a special resolution passes unless more than one-quarter (25%) in value of the votes cast are against it.

Note two things that surprise committees used to other states:

1. It is a "not more than 25% against" test, not a "75% of all owners in favour" test — owners who don't vote, and abstentions, are simply not counted.
2. The count is by unit entitlement, so a "no" from a lot with a large entitlement weighs more than a "no" from a small one. This is very different from Queensland's three-limb special resolution test.

Unanimous resolution

The strictest test: the motion fails if even one vote is cast against it. Abstentions don't block it. It is reserved for a small set of decisions, such as distributing surplus money from the funds to owners.

A special case: sustainability infrastructure

Since a 2021 amendment, a motion to install sustainability infrastructure (solar panels, EV chargers, and similar) that would otherwise need a special resolution passes unless more than 50% in value of the votes cast are against it — a deliberate lowering of the bar for environmental upgrades.

Notice, quorum, and voting methods

• Notice: written notice of a general meeting, including the agenda and the form of each motion, must be given at least 7 days before the meeting. A motion requiring a special resolution must be set out in full and identified as such in the notice.
• Quorum: a quorum exists if at least 25% of the persons entitled to vote are present (in person, by proxy, or by pre-meeting vote), or those present hold at least 25% of the total unit entitlements. If no quorum is reached within 30 minutes, the chairperson may adjourn the meeting — or declare the owners present to constitute a quorum and proceed.
• How owners vote: in person by show of hands, by demanding a poll (counted by unit entitlement), by proxy, or — where the scheme has adopted it — by pre-meeting electronic voting. Meetings themselves can be held wholly or partly by electronic means.
• Proxy limits: one person can hold at most 1 proxy in a scheme of 20 lots or fewer, or proxies for at most 5% of lots in a larger scheme. A proxy form lapses after 12 months or the second AGM after it was given, whichever comes first.
• Who can vote: an owner whose contributions (levies) were unpaid at the date of the notice is unfinancial and cannot vote — except on motions requiring a unanimous resolution. Tenants may attend general meetings but have no vote.

Common mistakes that void votes

1. Putting a by-law change as an ordinary resolution — invalid even if it passes overwhelmingly.
2. Counting a special resolution by heads instead of by unit entitlement of the votes cast.
3. Treating "75% in favour" as the special resolution test — the real test is "not more than 25% in value against".
4. Letting an unfinancial owner vote, then having the result challenged at NCAT.
5. Accepting proxies over the cap — the excess proxies are simply not counted, which can flip a result.

How StrataPilot handles this

StrataPilot's voting module encodes these rules: each motion is created with its resolution type, ballots record exact counts, results are computed against the right threshold automatically, and the tally is written into a result document the moment the poll closes — so the minutes always show why a motion passed or failed, whether the scheme sits under the NSW SSMA or the Queensland BCCM Act.

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This guide is general information about New South Wales legislation, current as at the "last updated" date above — it is not legal advice. For decisions that matter, check the current Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and Regulation, or contact NSW Fair Trading's strata schemes team.